Method for application launch and system function invocation

ABSTRACT

The system comprises the ability to detect certain gestures made by sliding a finger or stylus on a touch sensitive screen on a handheld device, even when a so called “screen lock” is active where the gesture is used to unlock the device and trigger the desired function associates with the gesture.

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/804,133, filed on Jul. 20, 2015, which is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/122,849, filed on Sep. 15, 2011, which is a National Stage Entry of International Application No. PCT/EP2009/062682, filed on Sep. 30, 2009, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/102,892, filed on Oct. 6, 2008, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

This invention combines two previously unrelated areas, namely screen- and keyboard unlocking mechanisms and application launch systems, which are here described separately.

Traditionally and typically, screen- and keyboard unlocking mechanisms on mobile/handheld devices involve multiple key presses or a combination of key presses and touch screen gestures to prevent spurious unlocks that would occur if only one action was necessary. Note that several devices on the market today actually a single key press on a special key to unlock the device (e.g. a Camera button). This special key can easily be pressed by mistake when the device is placed in a pocket or a bag.

These systems all suffer from the fact that extra actions are needed to start using the device and access the functionality and/or applications on the device if the user already knows what she wants to access.

Application launch and access to certain system functions sometimes need to be very quick. Typical ways of starting applications on a mobile/handheld device involve navigating a menu system. The number of key presses or gestures vary immensely from device to device and from manufacturer to manufacturer, and in some cases the devices even have dedicated hardware buttons that trigger the start of certain applications. Note that the latter tend to suffer from the spurious device unlocks described in the paragraph above. The fewest number of actions needed to start an application after the device has been safely unlocked is however in the best case 1 (one), and that is in the case of having a direct shortcut to the application from the screen that is shown after the device is unlocked.

Many application launch systems—especially those running on devices with only touch sensitive screens as main input—require the user to look on the screen when navigating the menu structure or using the direct shortcuts available. Even worse is the situation on devices where layout is dynamic and a certain application launch command is located on different positions on different occasions.

BRIEF LIST OF FIGURES

FIG. 1. One possible embodiment of invention; a device with touch sensitive screen with four activation areas.

FIG. 2. When touching an activation area, the available choices are shown in the other activation areas.

FIG. 3. All possible single slide gestures available when the four corners are used as activation areas.

FIG. 4a-d . Demonstrating a single slide gesture from activation zone C to D

FIG. 5. All possible two-slide gestures available when the four corners are used as activation zones.

FIG. 6.a-e Demonstrating a multi slide gesture from C to D to B

FIG. 7a-d . Demonstrating unlocking the device and launching an application using a single slide gesture from activation zone C to D.

FIG. 8a-d . Demonstrating a single slide gesture by example of launching the Calendar application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention combines the two previously unrelated areas of screen- and keyboard unlocking mechanisms and application launch systems.

Further, the invention utilizes the physically distinguishable areas, such as corners of the screen, which is advantageous since these are easy to recognize by a user without looking at the screen. By utilizing the physically distinguishable areas it is possible for a user to rely on muscle memory which is positive from a user experience perspective. Therefore, the problem that there is little or no possibility to “feel” where virtual buttons and selection areas are represented is solved.

Starting with application launch, the intention is to bring the simplicity and ease-of-use of non-touch screen devices to touch screen devices. As described in the “background” section, touch screen devices typically suffer from not encouraging or allowing the user to learn how to start applications and access system functions using muscle memory.

The invention introduces a set of restricted gestures that allow the user to perform them without looking at the screen. This is achieved by designing gestures that start, go through and end at certain activation areas on the screen that are easy to feel with the fingers. Throughout the text and figures of this document we use the four corners of the touch sensitive screen as activation areas for simplicity and clarity since these are especially easy to feel with the finger, but the technique is easily extendable to more or other areas if the physical embodiment of the device encourage other areas of the screens to be used instead of or in addition to the corners.

Note that applications and system functions are activated through slides between different activation areas and not by simply touching/pressing the activation areas.

The simplest form of slide gesture is the Single Slide Gesture, which goes from one activation area to another. All possible Single Slide Gestures using four activation areas are shown in FIG. 3. There are 12 possible Single Slide Gestures using four corners.

FIG. 4 illustrates the use case of launching an application using a single slide gesture. In FIG. 4a the graphical representations of the activation areas prompt the user to touch one activation area. FIG. 4b illustrate that when one of them is touched there is a visual prompt to slide the finger to another activation area. FIG. 4c illustrate when the finger has reached the destination activation area where visual feedback is given informing the user that by releasing the finger, the application will be launched [or system function invoked]. And finally in FIG. 4d , the finger is released and visual feedback is given in the form of the launching application [or equivalent].

The Multi Slide Gesture is a gesture where more slides are used to describe the gesture. Still, only slides between activation areas are used. All possible slides using two slides (“Two Slide Gestures”) using four activation areas are shown in FIG. 5. There are 36 possible Two Slide Gestures using four activation areas. The generic formula for calculating the number of N-Slide Gestures for M activation areas is M*(M−1){circumflex over ( )}N.

FIG. 6 illustrates the use case of launching an application using a Two Slide Gesture. In FIG. 6a the graphical representations of the activation areas prompt the user to touch one activation area. FIG. 6b illustrate that when one of them is touched there is a visual prompt to slide the finger to another activation area. FIG. 6c illustrate that the gesture must be continued by sliding the finger to another activation area. FIG. 6d illustrate having reached the destination activation area and visual feedback is given informing the user that by releasing the finger, the application will be launched [or system function invoked]. And finally in FIG. 6e , the finger is released and visual feedback is given in the form of the launching application [or equivalent]. This technique for identifying gestures is very robust from a system perspective and from an end user's perspective there are obvious gains in form of muscle memory utilization and implicit tactile feedback.

Yet another important aspect of the invention remains though, which will become clear when observing FIG. 7. In FIG. 7a , the device's screen- and key lock is activated, meaning that the screen is turned off or in power save mode. However, the touch sensors are still active and looking for finger touches. In FIG. 7b , a finger in an activation area has been detected, but no visual or other feedback is given to the user. In FIG. 7c the finger has entered another activation area and still no feedback is given to the user. Not until in FIG. 7d does something happen, and that is unlocking the screen- and key lock as well as launching an application as the result of the Single Slide Gesture from activation area C to D. Note that this is the exact same gesture as in the first example Illustrated in FIG. 4, and repeated here it gives the exact same result.

Note how the combination of the touch screen unlock mechanism and application launch system has reduced the number of actions on the end user's part substantially. The time required for accessing applications and system functions can thus be drastically lowered, increasing the ease-of-use for the end user.

In FIG. 8, a concrete use case is shown. In FIG. 8a , the user touches an area that brings up three sub-choices; Launch Calendar, launch Messaging and launch Contacts. Graphical objects (arrows) are shown to indicate where to slide fingers in order to make a choice. In FIG. 8b , the user slides his finger through the intermediary area and the graphical indicator objects are updated to reflect in which directions the various choices are. In FIG. 8c , the finger has reached the target area and two things happen: 1) Another area is activated as a sub-choice (or sub-menu if you will) and 2) the current area is made to trigger on releasing the user's finger. In FIG. 8d , the user releases his finger instead of sliding to the next area and thus the calendar application (the first choice) is launched. This example demonstrated that Single- and Multi Slide Gestures are allowed to share a common start. The activation does not occur until the finger is released. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: displaying, on a touch screen of an electronic device, a plurality of target areas corresponding to a plurality of applications, wherein each of the plurality of target areas corresponds to a different application; detecting, using the touch screen of the electronic device, a slide gesture from a start area to one target area among the plurality of target areas, wherein the slide gesture is in a vertical, a horizontal, or a diagonal direction; in response to detecting that the slide gesture reaches the one target area, the one target area corresponding to a particular application, displaying a graphical object on the touch screen that indicates a location of a sub-choice target area on the touch screen, wherein the sub-choice target area is associated with a sub-choice representing a specific action or operation within the particular application corresponding to the one target area; and performing one of the following operations based on where the slide gesture releases: when the slide gesture releases on the target area: launching the particular application corresponding to the one target area; or when the slide gesture continues to and releases on the sub-choice target area: launching the particular application corresponding to the one target area; and initiating the specific action or operation with the particular application.
 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising switching a screen mode from idle screen mode to active screen mode.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the idle screen mode uses less power than the active screen mode.
 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying a graphical object on the touch screen that indicates a location of the one target area on the touch screen.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the start area is a corner of the touch screen.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one target area is a corner of the touch screen.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the particular application is one of a calendar application, a messaging application, a web browser application, a contacts list application, a game application, a setting management application, a music player application, a camera application, a communications settings application, or a video recording application.
 8. A User Equipment (UE), comprising: a touch screen; and one or more processors configured to: display, on the touch screen, a plurality of target areas corresponding to a plurality of applications, wherein each of the plurality of target areas corresponds to a different application; detect, using the touch screen, a slide gesture from a start area to one target area among the plurality of target areas, wherein the slide gesture is in a vertical, a horizontal, or a diagonal direction; in response to a detection that the slide gesture reaches the one target area, the one target area corresponding to a particular application, display a graphical object on the touch screen that indicates a location of a sub-choice target area on the touch screen, wherein the sub-choice target area is associated with a sub-choice representing a specific action or operation within the particular application corresponding to the one target area; and perform one of the following operations based on where the slide gesture releases: when the slide gesture releases on the target area: launch the particular application corresponding to the one target area; or when the slide gesture continues to and releases on the sub-choice target area: launch the particular application corresponding to the one target area; and initiate the specific action or operation with the particular application.
 9. The UE of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to switch a screen mode from idle screen mode to active screen mode.
 10. The UE of claim 9, wherein the idle screen mode uses less power than the active screen mode.
 11. The UE of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to display a graphical object on the touch screen that indicates a location of the one target area on the touch screen.
 12. The UE of claim 8, wherein the start area is a corner of the touch screen.
 13. The UE of claim 8, wherein the one target area is a corner of the touch screen.
 14. The UE of claim 8, wherein the particular application is one of a calendar application, a messaging application, a web browser application, a contacts list application, game application, a setting management application, a music player application, a camera application, a communications settings application, or a video recording application.
 15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions to cause an electronic device to perform operations comprising: displaying, on a touch screen of the electronic device, a plurality of target areas corresponding to a plurality of applications, wherein each of the plurality of target areas corresponds to a different application; detecting, using the touch screen of the electronic device, a slide gesture from a start area to one target area among the plurality of target areas, wherein the slide gesture is in a vertical, a horizontal, or a diagonal direction; in response to detecting that the slide gesture reaches the one target area, the one target area corresponding to a particular application, displaying a graphical object on the touch screen that indicates a location of a sub-choice target area on the touch screen, wherein the sub-choice target area is associated with a sub-choice representing a specific action or operation within the particular application corresponding to the one target area; and performing one of the following operations based on where the slide gesture releases: when the slide gesture releases on the target area: launching the particular application corresponding to the one target area; or when the slide gesture continues to and releases on the sub-choice target area: launching the particular application corresponding to the one target area; and initiating the specific action or operation with the particular application.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising switching a screen mode from idle screen mode to active screen mode.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the idle screen mode uses less power than the active screen mode.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising displaying a graphical object on the touch screen that indicates a location of the one target area on the touch screen.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the start area is a corner of the touch screen.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one target area is a corner of the touch screen. 